Machine for making garment containers



Jan. 8, 1929.

L. E. LA BOMBARD ET AL MACHINE FOR MAKING GARMENT CONTAINERS Filed April .1, 1927 Gsngets-snegt, 1

Fig. 1. l

Fi gif Jan. 8, 1929. 1,698,550

L. E..LA BOMBARD ET AL MAGHINE FOR MAKING GARMENT CONTAINERS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 1. -192'7 Fig.

A TMR/Vix I L. E. LA BOMBARD ET Al.

MACHINE FOR MKING GARMENT CONTAINERS,

Filed April l, 1927 6 Sheet5-sh9et Figi) 154 Pigna M Jan. s, 1929. 1,998,550 L. 5.x LA BOMBARD ET AL MACHINE FOR MAKING GARMENT CONTAINERS Filed April l, 1927 6 SheiS-Sheet '.4

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Jan. 8, 1929l 1,698,550,

L. E. LA BOMBARD ET AL MACHINE Fon MAKING GARNENT CONTAINERS Filed April l, 1927 6 sheets-sheet 5 a laluna-wlw! M a/r/MM A TMR/Vix Jan. s, 1929. 1,698,550

L. E. LA BOMBARD ET AL MACHINE FOR MAKING GARMENT CONTAINERS Filed April l, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 A 7' TUE/VE )i Patented Jan. 8, 1929. i

.UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- LEONl E. LA BOMBARD, OF WEST NEWTON, AND MEIIVIN I-. SIDEBOTHAM, OF NEW- TONVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO SPECIALTY AUTOMATIC MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHELSEA,MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOB MAKING GARMENT CONT.AI1\l'lElItS.V

Application filed April 1, 1927. Serial No. 180,153.

i This invention relates to the manufacture ,of that type of ,envelopes commonly known as shirt holders or laundry envelopes and which .usually consist of a thin and somewhat transparent paper front member and a relatively thick pasteboard back member, the two members being adhesively connected at their side edges.

One of the objects of our present invention is to produce a machine which will automatically and rapidly produce, from two rolls of paper and pasteboard, completed envelopes or containers of the character described.

Another object of the invention is to produce the containers with printed matter borne thereon.

Another object is to produce the containers with their thin or front members having transverse edges doubled or folded to reinforce them.

Another 'object is to produce containers whichv arel automatically stilfened longitudinally by the insertion of garments between the front ,and back members.

Another object is to produce the containers with the side edges of the thick members softened so that the marginal portions of the thin members which enclose said softened edges will not be ruptured.

With the above and other hereinafterexplained objects in view, the invention.

consists in the construction and combination of parts substantially"` as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings Figures l, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are plan views which, taken together, illustrate theentire machine with the exception' of the final end of the belt and other mechanism which receives or stacks the output of the machine.

Figure 1a is a detail perspective view looking in the direction of the arrow 1*1, Figure 1.

Figure 2a represents a section on line II of Figure 2 on a larger scale.

Figure 4? represents a section on the line IVa of Figure 4 on a larger scale.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of some of the parts shown in Figure 3. n Figure 7 represents a section on line VII fof Figure 3 on a larger scale.

Figure 12 is a perspective view of the I product of the machine.

Similar reference characters indicate simllar parts or features in allv of the views.

To facilitate an understanding of the details of the machine, a preliminary brief description of its operation will be given:

A roll of material such as chipboard is mounted at one end of the machine and the web or strip is .drawn therefrom and fed to mechanism which cuts'it into sections of exact length. While on its way to be cut,

its edges are slightly pressed inward to softenthem, and n'ear its edges longitudinal creases are formed. At a farther point of the machine lglue is applied to the under surface of each section, near its side edges and for a distance less than the length of the section. Then a roll of thin paper, such as tissue, is cut into sections of less length than the thick sections, one edge of each thin section is transversely doubled or folded, each thin section is applied flat on a thick section and-the edges of the thin section folded over the side edges of the thick section and pressed against the portions of the `thick section having the stripes 'of glue. The thin and thick sections are machine, a suitable frame therefor is illustrated as a whole at 25. At one end (Fig.

'present use of 1) a supply roll of the web w which, in the thick paper or pasteboard known as chipboard, is mounted on a shaft 26. Said roll, or the web drawn therefrom, is prevented fromshifting laterally and is held under brake mechanism by suitable means such as that disclosed in our application filed December 6, 1926, Serial No. 152,749. The web from the roll passes through suitable tension mechanism and is drawn to the presently described mechanism by several pairs of driven rolls at different locations along the machine, one pair of said rolls being indicated at 27, 28, the upper one, 27, being shorter than the lower one 28.

On its way to the rolls 27, 28, the web is creased at a by means of converging creasingthat it will not bear on and flatten out the y creases a.

Supplementary web-feeding means consistsy of upper disks 432 carried by shaft 33 and having a width to bear only on the marginal portions of the web outside of the creases, said disks cooperating with similar lower disks or a roll.

The web leaving the feeding rolls and disks passes onto a plate or table 34 (Figs.

. 1, 2 and 2a) at which point the marginal 'portions ofthe web are .temporarily folded up and in to somewhat break the webon its crease lines. This is effected by a pair of folder nstrips 35 mounted on the plate 34, the inner faces of said strips being shaped to bend 'or fold the'marginal portions -of the web inward. To hold the middle portion of the web fiat on the plate, two pressing or guiding strips 36 having thin extensions 37 (Fig. 2) are mounted on cross rodsl 38.

Before the web is cut into sections as hereinafter described, it is returned to fiat condition; that is, its temporarily folded margins are laid back flat outwardly in order to enable proper transverse cutting to be effected. And since the materiai of the web is not of a strong character, it is essential that the inward and the return outward bends or folds shall be very gradual so that the margins will not be to'rn due to the slight stretching effect of the inward folding. Therefore, as illustrated, the plate 34, and the plate 39 over which the web travels while returning to flat condition, are nite long, and the distance from the point wl ere the margins are first turned up thetmachine consists of fairly ieasso rolls preventing lateral movement of the web which is being temporarily folded.

Continued travel of the web a to the-cutting mechanism which severs it into sections is effected by feeding rolls 42, 42 (Figs. 3 and 7). Just before reaching said rolls the web passes under a plate 43 supported by a bridge piece 44, said plate 43 being lat erally tapered. The object or function of said plate 43 is to render it certain that if an edge portion of the web should happen to be torn, such tear will not interfere with the operation'of the machine. That is, any torn edge will slide along the tapered edges f the said plate and be guided or laid out The next operation of the machine is to cut the web. a having its creases a into sections a2 (Figs. 3 and '7 This is effected by a shaft 49 (Figs. 3, 6 and`7), said shaft and its segments being rotated by lgearing illustrated but not necessary to describe in detail,.such rotation being at such speed and in such timing that each section 0.2 is sepa# rated sufficiently from the web to enable one of the pins 50 carried by an endless chain 51 to catch up to the rear edge of the section and push it along. Said chain at one end is mounted on a sprocket -52 (Fig. 7) carried by the shaft 53, wh,ich also carries disks below and cooperating with the segments 48.

Each section being pushed along by a pin of the chain is guided to and beyond gluing devices presently described, by angular side guides 54 having supporting pins 55 (Fig. 6) rising from blocks 56 mounted on tie rods 57 of the frame 25. Preferably, also, longitudinal strips 58 are employed, supported by cross bars 59 which connect the two guide bars 54.

Suitably supported by the frame of the machine is a glue box 60 (Fig. 3'). A shaft '61 extends through the glue box and carries The topsof the glue disks 62 are at such to the pointpoints of elevation or' in such planes, that of said times, the following mechanism is f provided :`A pair of small rolls 64 (Figs.

3 and 6) are carried by arms 65 of a rock shaft 66 supported by frame posts 67. Said shaft 66 has an arm 68 bearing on a cam 69 carried by shaft 6l and has another arm 70 to which a spring 71 is connected. The spring 71 acts to causethe rolls 64 to press the margins of each passing pasteboard section down intomcontact with the glue disks so long as such/pressing is permitted by the low portion of the cam 69. Then when the `high portion of the cam is passing under the arm 68 the depressing rolls 64 are lifted. The object of this structure is to avoid the application of any glue to a passing section is moved by the said rolls 86,87, onto Ytable a2 excepting in the ositions and for such lengths of stripes o glue as to equal the length and the proper positioning of the tissue section b which is to be adhesively connected to each passinv section m2 at a farther point of the macthine as presently described. It will now be understood why the shaft 61 which carries the cam 69 as well as the glue disks 62, revolvesonce for each passing section a2. At this point it is desirable to refer to the fact that each in,-y`

ished garment container consists of a stiff back member a2 and a thin or tissue front or face member b which latter is considerably shorter than lthe back member (see Figure 12). Therefore, if glue were to be applied to the back members a2 along portions Which are not later covered by the marginal portions of the front members b as presently described, the uncovered or exposed glue would cause the products of theV machine to stick together after issuing from the machine. This feature enables the machine to be operated at a speed which is in no way limited by any necessity for e'ecting any drying before stacking the containers. v

It is to be understood, of course, that the highand low portions of the cam 69 are of such relative peripheral lengths that they rolls 64 of` the arms 65 depress the margins of each passing section a2 into contact with the glue disks only long enough to effect the application to each section of two stripes of glue having the right length and the correct longitudinal locations to be just covered by the folded marginal portions of a, tissue member b which marglnal portions are folded over the edges of t e section a2 and glued to t-he rear surface thereof. f

The sections wi which are pushed alon b the pins 50 of the chain 5l are supporte by suitable meanssuch as strips or plates 72,

113, (Figs. 3, 6 and 8).

The chain 51 has been referred 'to as mounted at one end on a. sprocket 52 (Fig.

7). At its yother end itis mounted on a The mechanism for feeding a web of thel tissue paper andy cutting into the required sections will now vbe described. Said mechanism includes-a supporting shaft 80 for a roll of the thin paper b Fig. 4). The web b passes over a roll 81 i s. 4-and8) carried by arms 82 of a sha t 83, said shaft having` another arm 84 to which a spring 85 is connected to effect pressure of the roll 81 againstthe upper one of a pair of driven rolls 86, 87, whlch gripand feed the web. The web is cut into sections b by a blade 92 lcarried by the roll 87, and each section strips 88 .supported by cross bars 89, and then passes to the nip of rolls 90, 91. The web .b and sections b are illustrated by heavy black lines in the interest of clearness. The material is, in practice, very thin.

To ensure proper successive travel of the sections b to the rolls 90, 91, belts 93 are employed, mounted on and driven by small pulleys 94, the said belts traveling between the table strips 88. Tohold the sections 'in contact with the carrier belts 93, guide strips 95, and presser bars 96 with balls or rolls therein, are employed, said strips and bars being supported by a tie bar 97.

In the use of garment containers ofthe Acharacter referred to and such as illustrated .sprocket 74, carried by shaft 75 (Fig. 8).

91, (see Figs. 8, 10, and 1 1). A blade 98 projects from a rod 99 mounted to rock ,in

a transverse socket'in the periphery of the roll 90, said rod having at one end an arm 100 to which two springs 101 are connected and which permitl the blade carried bythe rod to yield forward or back relatively to f the direction of rotation of the roll. y other blade 102 projects from a rod 103 mounted to rock in a transverse socket in the periphery of the lower roll 91, sai-d rod havling at one end an arm 104 whlch'ls main'- tained by a spring 105 in contact with a cam 106 carried b a xed sleeve 107 in which the shaft of t e roll 91 rotates. An idle roll as the rolls reach said illustrated positions,

the blade 98 doubles or folds the paper down alongside of the blade 102, close to or near 4`the edge of the paper, and then the continued rotation of-the rolls releases the folds from the two temporarily overlapping blades'98, 102, and as said advancing edge the member a2.

passes the idle roll 108 the latter completes the fold. The timing of operation is suoli that the front edge of the stiff member a2 arrives under the roll 91 (see 8) far enough in advance of the arrival of the thin member t on top of the sti' member, to leave the forward'end of the member l? uncovered by the member L (see F ig. 12), and

so that the rearend edge of the member b exactly registers with the rear end edge of I This accurate registration is also illustrated in Figure 8.

Flach section a2 passes from the plate 72 to al plate 113, said plates being supported by cross bars 114, with a space between them to accommodate an Iidle roll carried by arms 116 of a roclt shaft 117 another arm l 118 of which has a spring 119 connected to it. rllhe roll 115 cooperates with the roll 91 in ensuring travel of the superimposed sections ag, ZJ', to position to be engaged by lower and upper' belts. 1n 'the present machine there are three-lower belts 120 mounted on pulleys 121, 122, carried by shafts 123, 124, (compare Figs. 8 and 9), and three upper belts mounted on pulleys 126, 127, carried by shafts 128, 129. Suitable pressure rolls are illustrated at (Fig. 8). rllhe relationship of the siX belts just referred to is illustrated in Figure 4a. Bearing on the two outer upper belts 125 aierolls-131Y which are car-ried by arms 132 (Fig. 4) supported by a cross strip 133 mounted on a longitudinal strip 134 suitablysupported by the frame of the machine. Said' rolls 131 are for thepurpose of firmly pressing and holding the superimposed members a2, b', together during the operation of folders 135 (Figs. 4 and 4a) which are supported by transverse frame bars one of which is illustiated at 136. Said `folders are so shaped that their inner surfaces act on the side margins of each thin section b (the sections b being wider than the sections a2) to fold said side margins over the side edges and against the under' surface of the marginal portions of the section a2 where the stripes of glue were applied by the glue disks 62 as inesatto 139 (Figs. 5, 9 and 4), and thereby the twol sections or members are firmly united.

-For convenience of description, the now completely assembled sections or members a2, b, will be referred to as the container or envelope.

r1`he belts 120, 125, deliver each container onto strips 140 supported by cross bars 141 (Figs. 5 and 6) and between side guides or margin strips 142, and the container arrives against a stop 143 which temporarily arrests it. Said stop is carried by and longitudinally adjustable rela-tively to an arm 144 of a roclt shaft 145 (Fig. 9), said shaft having another arm 146 provided with a roll 14'? which is acted upon by a cam 148 of a shaft 149, to cause the stop 143 to rise and permit it to fall by its weight or a suitable spring. -lflie shaft 149 also carries a dish 150.

Above the shaft 149 is a shaft 151 carrying a segment 152. The timing is such that the sel container arrives against the raised stop while the segment is approaching the pesition shown in Figure 9, and then the stop is lou-'ered as, or just after, the segment 152 contacts with the container. @f course the structure may permit some slipping of the segment if it contacts with the container before the latter is 'released by the stop. fis soon. as released, the container is advanced over the table strips 140 by the segment, to the printing mechanism the operation of which is so timed as to apply the desiredlaundry or other printed matter to the surface of the thin member b in accurate position longitudinally thereof.

The printing mechanism includes a platen cylinder 153 carried by shaft 154, and a printing cylinder 155 carried by shaft 156. Marginal pressing rolls 157 are carried by arms 158 of a rock shaft 159 having another arm 160 to which a spring 161 is connected.-

Some of the usual inking rolls are illustrated at 162, and an ink-supply is indicated at 163 in Figure 5.

rFhe complete and printed containers are delivered to a suitable stacking belt 164 having a row-holding roll 165 above it` Referring to Figure 12, it will be seen that the thin tissue member b is so applied or connected to the thick back member m2 so as to be taut laterally. 1n practice, the machine delivers the containers with the two when a garment is inserted between'the two members delects the marginal portions of the thick member out of a fiat plane, the crease lines a serving somewhat as hinges. There is no objection to the containers being quite flexible in any direction, when not filled, but longitudinal stiffness is desirable when they are filled, as such stiffness aids in preserving -t-he contained shirts or other articles in smooth condition. Owing to the presence of the creases a', and the taut conl dition of the member b', thef act of inserting a garment in the container automatically converts it to condition resembling a trough which greatly increases its longitudinal stiffness.

In view ofthe fact that the paper/eml ployed -for the front members b is not strong, theextreme edges of the members a2 would be lliable to cut through or tear the thin paper where it passes over said extreme edges, 1f no provisions'were made to prevent it. Therefore the present machine is provided with means for softening the edges of the 'thick material by exerting inward pressure thereon' so as to somewhat scra e or round said edges. This is done by t e machine before the web a is cut into sections.

Referring to Figures 1 and 1, the table 34 has xedly mounted thereon two edge softeners, each consisting of a piece of metal bent to provide abase 166 and an upper part 167 the latter having a spring str1 168 s ecured thereto as by a rivet 169. aid two attachments are so mounted that their bent portions are inclined toward each other (Fig. 1), and they are-so spaced' apart that the inner surfaces of the bends, where the web a issues from betweenthem, somewhat restrict free passage of the web. The two spring strips 168 hold thepassin- .web down on the bases 166 so that the e ges ofthe web are slightly deflected out of a flat plane in the effort to pass the slightly restricted space between the two attachments, resultin in so softening the extreme edges of the we that the sections thereof, when they become members of complete containers at another point of travel through the machine, will not cause rupture ofthe portions of the thin members which are tautly folded thereover. As the operation of the machine as a whole has been prelimnarily described, and the Ioperations of the several portions of the.

machine have been described 'in connection with references to the details thereof, further description of the operation of lthe machine is unnecessary.

Having now described our invention, we claim:

1. A machine of "the, character described, comprising means for drawing a plurality of webs of material from supply rolls means for independently converting each of the webs into sections, and means for assembling the sections with their margins connected together,

2. A machine of the character described, comprising means for feeding webs of relaf tively thick and thin material, and means for independently converting each of the webs, while -traveling into sections, said machine including means for adhesively connecting marginal portions ofthe thick and thin sections of material.

3. A machine of the character described, comprising means for feeding a lurality of webs of material, means for in ependently converting each of the webs into sections, means for assembling the sections with their margins connected together, and means for y printing one of said layers.

4.- A machine of the character described, havin means for progressively severing a plura lty of webs into sections of different lengths, and means for superposing thesections and connecting them together at opposite margins.

5. A machine 4of the character described, havin means for progressively severing a plura 1ty of webs into sections of different lengths, and means for assembling the sections in pairs and adhesively connecting opposite marginal portions thereof.

6. A machine for making garment containers, comprising means for feeding a thick web and a thin web, means for independentlyl cutting each web into sections, and means for marginallyconnecting each thin section to a thick section. Y v

7. A machine for making garment containers, comprising means for feeding a thick web and a thin web, means for independentl cuttinv each web into sections, means for ongiturnally creasing the thick web before it is cut into sections, and means for marginally connecting each thin section with a thick section.

8. A machine for making garment containers, comprising means for feeding a thick web and 'a' thin web, means for independently cutting the webs into sections,

means for folding the side margins of each and means for connecting thel sol folding a transverse edge of each thin section to reinforce it, and means for adhesively connecting the side margins ofeach thin section to the side margins of a thick section.

11- A machine'for making garment containers, comprising means for feeding Webs of relatively thick and thin paper, cut-ting the Webs into sections, means for folding the side margins of each thin sec tion over the side edges of a thick section, and means for adhesively securing the said folded margins to the rear surface of thethick section.

s 12. A machine formaking garment containers, said machine having means for feed*- ing a thick web and a thin web, means for longitudinally creasing the thick web, means for exingthe margins of the thick web on its crease lines, means for independently cutting each web into sections, and'means for marginally connecting each thin section vto a thick section.

13. i machine for making garment containers, said machine having means for feeding a thick weh and a thin Web, means for longitudinally creasing the thick web, a pair of folderstrips in position to bend the margins of the thick web inlvard, means for returning said margins to outward flat condition, means forY independently cutting each web into sections, and means formarginally connecting each thinsection to a thick section,

l machine for making garment containers, said machine having means for feeding a thick Web and cutting it into sections, means for feeding a. thinlweb and cutting it into sections of less length than the thick sections, means for applying to the thick sections stripes of glue limited in length to the length of the thin sections, and means for assembling the thick and thin sections With marginal portions of the thin sections Y overlying the glue stripes of the thick sections.

15. A machine of the character described, said machine having means for feeding Webs of relatively thick and thin paper, means for cutting the Webs into sections, a pair of rolls for advancing each thin section, said rollshaving cooperatingblades to fold a "transverse edge of each thin section, and

means for adhesively connecting the side margins of each thin section With the side margins cfa thick section,

- 16. A machine for making garment containers., said machine having means for feeding a thick Web and a thin Web which is Wider than the thick Web, means for independently cutting the Webs into sections,

means for applying glue to marginal -por-` ltions of each thick section, and means for folding marginal portions of each thin section over the edges of a thick section and against the glue-bearing areas of the latter.

17. A machine for making garment containers, said machine comprising means for means for 'of less length than tne v paper, material incasso feeding a thick Web and a thin Web, means for inwardly compressing the edges of the thick Web to soften said edges, means for independently cutting tions, and means for folding the marginal portions of each thin section over the softened edges of a thick section.

18. A machine of the character described, comprising means for feeding a Web of stiff paper material and cutting it into sections, means for longitudinally creasing said Web and softening its edges on its Way to be cut,

means for applying glue to each section near its side edges, means for feeding a web of thin paper and cutting it into sections l length of the stili sections, and means section dat on astiif section with the mar-i gins of the thin section enclosing the edges of the stiff section.

19. A machine of the character described, comprising means for feeding Va *weh of stiff and cutting it into sections,

means rer longitudinally creasing said weh and softening its edges on its vvay to be cnt,

means for applying glue to each section near each Web into secfor applying each thin its edges, means for feeding a web of thin.

paper cutting it into sections of less length than the length of the stiff sections, means for applying each thin section dat on a section With the margins of the thin section enclosing the edges of the stiff section, mechanism printing one of the members of the assembled sections, and means for temporarily arresting the assembled sections on their .Way to the printing mechanism to e'ect accurate location of the printed matter.

20. A machine for making garment containers, comprising means for feeding a thick web and a thin web, means for independently cutting each web into sections, means for longitudinally creasing the material of the thick web, and means for marginally connecting each thin section With a thick section. v

21. A machine of the character described, comprising means for feeding a weh of sti' paper material and cutting `it into sections, means for softening material, means for applying glue to each section near its side edges, means for feeding a 'web ofthin paper and cutting it into sections, and means for applying each thin section flat on a stisection with the mar-1 gins of the thin section enclosing the soff tened edges of the stiff section.

the edges of the stiE.

22. A machine of the character described,`

length of the stiff sections, means for applyl tainers, said machine comprising means for ing each thin section -at on a stili' section assembling thick and thin members 'with with thefmargins of the thin section enclostheir marginal portions connected, the said ing the edges of the stiff section, mechanism machine having means for operating on the 5 for printing the assembled sections, and edges of the thick members to softensaid 15 means for temporarily arresting -the asseinedges. bled, sections on their way to the printing x In testimony whereof we have aflixed our mechainsm to effect accurate locationof the signatures. v

- printed matter. LEON E. LA BOMBARD.

10 23. A machine for making 'garment con- MELVIN H. SIDEBO'II-IAM. 

